1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image forming apparatuses and processing methods for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus, when an instruction to shut down the apparatus is provided while jobs input by a user of the apparatus are being processed or waiting to be processed, the user needs to be notified thereof.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-21501 discloses displaying information about ongoing and waiting jobs upon a shutdown instruction and receiving a determination whether or not to perform shutdown.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-268117 discloses determining upon a shutdown instruction whether or not jobs are remaining in a spool where jobs to be processed are stored, and if it is determined that unprocessed jobs are remaining, displaying a list of the unprocessed jobs and receiving a user's selection to print or delete the jobs.
However, processing performed in an image forming apparatus is not limited to printing user-input jobs. An example of other kinds of processing performed is processing of updating firmware of the image forming apparatus itself.
The firmware update processing is roughly divided into two processing parts. The first processing part is downloading the firmware from a server and saving the downloaded firmware in a temporary work area.
The next processing part is transferring the firmware saved in the work area to an existing firmware storage area.
If an instruction to shut down the image forming apparatus is provided during the latter part of the above-described processing, this will result in that the image forming apparatus does not start at the next power-on because the firmware remains incomplete.
To shut down the image forming apparatus without compromising functions of the apparatus such as the firmware update processing, it is not sufficient only to check user-input jobs.
In an office environment, jobs are input to a single networked image forming apparatus from a plurality of personal computers (PCs) that are also networked. In such an environment, a user who provides a shutdown instruction and a user who has input a job are often different.
Controlling execution of a job by a user different from a user who has input the job may cause a mistaken recognition that a printed matter has become lost. Therefore, a user with administrative authority needs to take responsibility for this control.
Further, job control methods that include only continuing print and deleting are not sufficient in the following points.
(1) If continuing print is selected, it takes long before shutdown when there are many jobs waiting to be printed.
(2) If deleting is selected, the print jobs need to be input again later.